Cabela’s income up 28%; to accelerate expansion of smaller-store format

By Staff Writer

Sidney, Neb. – Cabela’s Inc. said Thursday that its net income rose 28% in the third quarter, in line with expectations, as the outdoor sporting goods retailer's smaller store format outperformed its larger, standard format.

“The highlight of the quarter was the excellent performance of our new next-generation stores, which bodes well for our future,” said Tommy Millner, Cabela's CEO. “The eight next-generation stores open for the full quarter outperformed our existing legacy store base in sales and profit per square foot by a wide margin. Additionally, same store sales from our next-generation stores exceeded the performance of our existing stores by several hundred basis points.”

For the three months ended Sept. 29, the company earned $42.8 million, compared with $33.3 million in the year-ago period.

Cabela’s said that it plans to accelerate expansion of its smaller format, as a result of the strong performance of its new stores. It also noted that all new locations going forward will follow the smaller, “next generation” format. The chain now expects to open eight of the smaller stores in 2014.

The new format ranges from about 80,000 sq. ft. to 125,000 sq. ft., compared with the chain’s standard 250,000 sq. ft. model.